On Wednesday night, the Dallas Mavericks were downed by Mr. Big Shot -- Chauncey Billups -- in a 91-89 loss. Just one night prior to that, those same Clippers were blasted by the Utah Jazz, 108-79. That win took Utah to a record of 8-1 in the month of January.
That one loss, which is also their only home loss this season, was to the Los Angeles Lakers in overtime. The Jazz haven't played a terribly difficult schedule thus far, but it's fair to say at this point that they are much better than most people expected. Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap are having good seasons, but there's no particular standout player. They use a lot of their bench, and the players deep on their bench are playing better than expected.
The Mavericks are having a very mediocre start to the season and they're coming off of two poor offensive performances on the road, so it wouldn't be stunning to see them struggle again. Dirk Nowitzki and Lamar Odom are much better than their current performances, however, and they're going to have to snap out of their respective funks eventually.
Game Day/Time: Thursday, 10:30 p.m. ET
TV: TNT
For more on the two teams, check out Dallas Mavericks blog Mavs Moneyball and Utah Jazz blog SLC Dunk, as well as SB Nation Dallas.